What we're doing has become laughable. Aside from the wanton killing by drone and defense of torture (and failure to hold torturers accountable), we fostered a violent revolution in Ukraine and now criticize the armed response of people who actually live there. Maybe we didn't intend it to be violent, but it was violent, when the change-over occurred, in violation of a EU-brokered agreement over the matter that was in effect at the time, agreed to by all parties. The EU seems to have forgotten their own agreement, but we shouldn't. We also should not support groups like Right Sector, ever.
This isn't a defense of Russia, who I could mostly care less about, though I recognize they have important interests, and we need to work with them on our Commons challenges. This is bigger than that. Europe should tread carefully too, as they've violated their laws and constitutions to a large degree by playing "let's swap intelligence between countries" to violate their privacy laws. This is a warning.
I've really avoided bringing this up, because we have larger business with the Commons, but because there is such an ascendance of assholes recently, I'll let it all hang out. Europe has very specific privacy laws and commitments to their citizens, which they've violated without conscience by playing games. The game is that "rival" intelligence agencies spy on their allies and share information. I know this will not be welcome news in Germany let alone many of the rest.
Think about it. The U.S. can spy on Germans, independent of their privacy laws, and we can share that information with German intelligence agencies, to give one example. All perfectly legal, perhaps. We allow the same thing on our end, though because we're such control freaks, we just spy on our own like it's constitutional kosher, even though it's plainly illegal and unconstitutional, and Congress can't authorize it, whether they want or not. The game is that these intelligence agencies exchange information that would otherwise be illegal.
Then we get asshats like Scalia, the ultimate pretender, who has become the master of twisting constitutional language in an authoritarian interpretation. He doesn't even see any possible problem in the government seizing all the "effects" of every American citizen everywhere. What a jackass. I'll twist him up anytime he ever invites any esteemed debate over the merits.
Going back to the Ukraine, we fostered a revolution there, that was ostensibly meant to be peaceful, but that turned out to be violent. In the process, both we (the U.S.) and the U.N. have been shown to be liars who do not keep their word, and everything we say now is just more Pinnochio.
It's unfortunate, and needs to change, we can't be liars, cheats, criminals, and murderers. Most of all, we can't be those stupid empire things because we have serious "commons" concerns, and anyone who doesn't focus on those things we need to tackle in common is not "progressive".
10:08 PM PT: I've edited references to the U.N. to correctly indicate the EU, my apologies for any confusion, no deception was intended. The Feb. 21 agreement was mediated and brokered by the EU, not the U.N.